


Control

by SparkleDuck



Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: Canon-typical swearing, Canonical attempted Rape/Non-con, Depression, Drinking, Eating Disorders, Self-Esteem Issues, Smoking, Underage Smoking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-26
Updated: 2015-10-07
Packaged: 2018-04-23 11:34:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4875286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SparkleDuck/pseuds/SparkleDuck
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's something wrong with Morty, and it's up to Rick to find out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Your Bad Guy](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/146860) by TwistingMoonBeam. 



“MoOORRty?” Rick belches out as he looks up from his morning coffee, peeking over at the table to see Morty half-asleep and hunched over his cereal. He watches as Jerry eats his omelette happily, oblivious to his son’s tiredness. 

“Morty, your going to be late to school again if you don't hurry up.” Jerry says with his mouth full. Rick takes his flask out of his pocket and adds a little something to his coffee. 

“Y-y-yeah, okay d-d-dad.” Morty stutters out as he slowly gets up and grabs his bag, leaving his still full cereal bowl on the table. Somethings… Off with the kid lately. They locked eyes on Morty’s way out the door, and he had to admit, he didn't look so good. He looked almost dizzy, purple bags dropping under his dull, almost lifeless eyes that held none of their usual enthusiasm and curiosity.

“I don’t think Morty’s been sleeping well.” Beth says as she passes though the doorway. 

“I wonder why that would be?” Jerry scoffs, shooting Rick a glance.

“Jerry!”

“Well it’s certainly not his schoolwork Beth!” Jerry half-yells. “He’s still getting D’s, and your father taking him out of school every day sure isn’t helping!”

“School is pointless Jerry.” Rick says from his perch atop the counter.

“Just because-“ Beth quickly sticks a hand over Jerry’s mouth, she’s herd this argument too many times.

“Dad, can you just try and talk to him about it? Please?” She says, worry evident on her face.

“FinNNEe. Just calm the fuck down, he's probably just up late wackin’ it.”

“Dad!”

“What! It’s the truth!” Rick said hoping down off the counter and setting his mug in the sink, and heading out to the garage. 

Distractedly, he fumbled around the garage for a bit messing with machines and playing around with some slides of alien bacteria that was lying around. He had to think of a way to get Morty to talk so he could get Beth and the idiot off his back.

Fuck it, he’ll just take the kid to Blips and Chitz. It’ll all be fine. 

————————————————

“MoRRtty, theres an e-emergency! Come on!” Rick yelled as he portaled into the kids math class. 

“Huh. What? Oh h-hey Rick. W-whats wrong?” Mort says pulling his head up from the desk.

“No time to explain we need to go!” He says as he pulls Morty into the portal.

“Aww geez Rick, were are we going?”

“It’s a surprise Morty. Just get in the ship.”

In the vast and relative emptiness of space it’s easy to forget about time. It’s easy to turn off your brain and just drive. He doesn’t realize that their there until he’s already parked. 

“Morty?” Rick belches. “Mor-“ Huh. The little shits asleep. He reaches over to shake morty awake. Has the kid always been this bony? “Morty! Wake up! WeERRe here.”

“O-okay. Where is h-here exactly, Rick?”

“Blips and Chitz mother fucker!”

“A-awesome.”

————————————————

The ship starts with a whir, propelling them out into space and back home. Rick glances at Morty. He looks- different. Not better, per say, but more relaxed. Rick sighs. So much for plan A, he’s going to have to talk to the kid. Damn.

“So, Uh.. Your parRREnts wanted me to talk with you about some stuff.” He starts off, taking a long, hard swig from his flask.

“T-there getting divorced, a-arent they?” Mort said sniffling a little. 

“No, no. Or, not yet, at least. They just, uh, wanted me, to- fuck, I’m not any good at this Morty. They wanted me to taALLk to you about you being tired all the time and shit, man. There all worried about you and shit.”

“Oh-h. I’m f-fine. Just, uhh n-not sleeping well, I guess.” He can tell Morty’s lying, anyone could. The kids just got to be embarrassed about watching porn or something. Fine, he’ll let him keep his secrets for now.

“Pfft. I told Stupid Jerry there was nothing to worry about.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Takes place one month after chapter one. Rick is still worried, but maybe someone else is catching on too.

He thought Morty would get better. He thought it was going to be easy, just take the kid out to have some fun, take him on some easier adventures for a bit, be a little nicer than usual. It seemed to making it even worse. When Rick tried to sleep, which wasn't often, he could hear Morty up and about. Moving around in the night when he should've been asleep long ago. He was always distracted now, his mind was never on the task at hand. 

Something had to be wrong. Rick had his theories, but not a whole lot to go on. The little shit didn’t want to talk about anything. He had thought about going into his dreams for a bit, but decided he’d rather not know what went on in there.

———————————

Rick watched with a scowl as Morty pushed his food around. Only a few bites of it made it into his mouth. 

“Morty? Aren’t you hungry?” Summer said softly. 

“N-not r-really.” He yawned.

“Are you felling okay?” Beth tried, worry seeping into her voice.

“Yeah. I j-just had a b-big lunch, Mom.” He almost whispered, his voice hoarse. Rick could tell he was lying, but why would he lie about that? It’s not like Beth’s macaroni and cheese was that bad. He looked to Summer, to see if maybe she had seen Morty at lunch, but she looked just as confused as he was. “C-can I be excused please?”

“You shoOUULld really eat something Morty, you didn’t eat any breakfast.”

"Yeah, at least a little?" Summer almost pleaded. It was strange, maybe she saw something he didn't? 

“I’m r-really tired though, and I’m n-not even hungry.” 

“Go on, just try to get a good nights rest son.” Jerry stammered out after getting a nod from Beth, but Morty was already gone. 

————————————

His knees creaked as he sat down on the back steep. “God-damned Jerry, not letting me smoke in the fucking garage. It’s fucking cold and my knees hurt and shit.” He muttered. He lit his cigarette and-

Something was behind him.

“Morty? Is that you?”

“Aww geez Rick, you scared me. I didn't think you'd be up.”

“You shouldn't be up. what happened to tuURRning in early, huh? It’s-“ He pulled up his watch to look “Four in the morning, Morty.”

“I j-just can’t sleep.”

“Sometimes the universe is a bitch like that. Do you want something for it? I-I’ve got some pretty mellow sleeping pills, if you want some?”

“A-are you s-sure, Rick? I d-don’t want to take your s-stuff.”

“It’s finNEe. You look like you need ‘em more. Only take one though” He says, handing him a small bottle.

“T-thanks.” He said, dry-swallowing a pill and heading back inside.

He sat smoking for a bit, thinking about everything, and after about half a pack the realization hit him like a ton of bricks. It just came together all at once. Morty hadn’t been eating for a while now, not sense- sense they helped that town and he- oh, god. How could he have not noticed that! It’s been a little over month and a half now! He knew it was going to fuck the kid up for a bit, but he didn’t expect this. 

He probably had all kinds of electrolyte imbalances going on. Fuck, the kid needs to see a doctor. He snuffed out his cigarette, and quietly went back inside. He should still be out cold, right? The medicine may have been a bit stronger than he let on. 

He went up and gently got Morty out of bed and took him down to the lair and put him on the table. He was defiantly out for the count, but he may not have long. He got a nutritional IV ready and started to look for a vain. “Shit.” He cursed as rolled up the sleeves of Morty’s sweater. “He’s so fucking tiny.” It went in pretty well considering the circumstances. “At least he’s keeping himself hydrated.” Rick Muttered.

Morty shivered and turned over a bit, searching for a warm spot. Looking around, all that was in the lair was an emergency blanket, so it would have to do.

“What am I going to do with you, you little shit.” Rick said, softly stroking Morty’s hair. “I don’t know anything about this shit. I don’t know how to even start to fix this.” He sighed, and took a big swig from his flask. He thought long and hard while Morty slept. “Jerry’s an idiot, so he’s out. Your mom, well, she’d never understand, and she's got all of her shit going on. Summer, well. Summer might be HELlpfull, but… Fuck, I don’t know Morty. Should I take you to a therapist? There all qQUUACcks, Morty. Quacks who just want all-l your money.” He stammered out, nodding and taking another swig from his flask. “Maybe you’ll realize that you can’t do this? Maybe you just need to work it out on your own?” He sighs and looks away, unsure of his decision. 

“Fine. You've got a month Morty. A mMONnth to get your shit together.” He said picking up the fragile boy and crying him up to bed. He’ll give him some time to do it his own way, with Rick’s medical care the whole time, of course. And if the kid dosent snap out of it he’s going to see a therapist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really feel like I ended this chapter terribly, and I'm really sorry. I just didn't know were else to end it, you know?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two weeks after chapter two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took so long, I'm really swamped with work and I wasn't sure were to end the chapter. I hope everyone enjoys it.

“Summer, I don’t know what to do.” Rick slurred. “Tell me what to do.”

“Your drunk Rick, go back to bed.” She said sleepily. 

“No, no. I neEEed to fix- I gotta fix Morty. I don’t know what to do.” He said sitting down on the edge of her bed. “I thought- I thought he could fix it himself. That was stupid of me, really stupid. He’s wORRSse than I thought, Summer.”

“Is he- Can we fix it?” 

“I don’t- i don’t know. He’s not eating much of anything any-anymore. I’ve been- I’ve been keeping track, giving him an IV when he sleeps.”

“That’s kinda fucked up, letting him solve it on his own?”

“I thouGght it would be better for him in the long r-run. You know, staying away from thoOOSse mind-reading quacks. Or maybe he’d just wake up one day and come to his fucking scenes? It- It seamed like a goOOod idea at the time.” He slurred out, slowly nodding off.

———————————————

Rick stepped out of the portal on the kitchen wall, with a large frown on his face. His coat was dirty, and he’d been gone a bit longer than he meant to be, but the pocket full of Morty’s favorite Blershian walnuts that he’d brought home made it worth it. 

“What the hHEEell?” He said hearing a small crunch as he stepped forward.

He looked down to see Morty on the floor, his back up against the cabinets, surrounded by fragments of broken mug. What the hell was he doing out here at two in the morning?

"Morty- hEEey Morto- get your ass off the ground.” He blinked, exhausted and surprised when the boy didn't move. "M-morty?" He knelt down to pick the boy up, and pulled him close to his chest. Something wasn’t right. Morty was way to still, even for being asleep, and suddenly Rick was wide awake, heart pounding in his chest. “Shit! M-morty, what the fuck…” He was already moving to find a pulse on the boy’s neck, however slow and erratic it was. Running into the garage and slamming the button to get into the lair, he was already prepping the boy’s arm for injection. 

He quickly sat the boy on the table, clutched his wrist, and tried to stick the needle in with shaking hands. He grabbed the monitoring equipment and hastily hooked it up. 

 

He had a steady pulse. 

 

Rick sighed, the quiet, rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor calming him down. He pulled a chair up, took a seat, and bowed his head, running his hands over his face. 

“Jesus mother fucking christ, Morty.” He was breathing heavily as he snapped his eyes shut, trying to clear his mind. “Pull it the fuck together, Rick.” He whispered to himself. Morty needed someone to help him through this when he woke up. Or if he woke up. “This is all your fault, asshole. You knew it was happening, and what the fuck did you do. Huh, Rick? God, I’m such a fucking idiot.” He reached over to stroke Morty’s hair, petting it softly. He rolled his chair over to the other table, and emptied out his pockets, leaving the walnuts and his flask. If he was going to help Morty, he was going to have to be at least sober-ish. It hurt to look at him- all limp and fragile, sprawled out on the table like this. He ran his hands through his own hair frustratedly, and Morty stirred a bit, wrapping his oversized sweater around himself tightly. Rick sighed as he grabbed the blanket that he kept down here now and rolled back over.

“Hey, M-morty.” He choked out, spreading the blanket out over him. “I-I’m sorry, kid. I should've h-helped you. I thought- I thought you were going to be okay. I thought if I just kind of, ignored the problem a l-little, it would just fix itself, you know? You know h-how I am Morty, I j-just  
try to forget about things, so that- so that they don’t hurt anymore. I figured it w-would work this time too. Fuck, I’m so s-shitty at this.” He sighed, pulling the blanket up around Morty’s neck. “I’ll make it up to you, Morty. I’ll- We’ll fix this. I-I love you, kid. I’ll be right he when you wake up.”

———————————————

He watches as Morty’s breathing changes from slow and shallow to panicked, and then slowly returned to normal. Impatiently, the boy tries to sit up, and he quickly rejoins the table for a moment.

“Morty?” Rick asks, testing to see if he’s really awake yet. “Are you okay buddy?”

“Y-yeah, I just s-sat up too fast.” He whispered, looking down to see were the needle of the IV meet his skin. Slowly, he looked up at Rick with a confused expression. “W-what’s this f-for, Rick?”

“It’s a saline drip, your blood sugar was fucking trashed, man.” He said, watching as Morty slowly rubbed at the injection site. “It n-needs to stay in for a bit. Your systems pretty wrecked.”

“What h-happened?”

“You don’t fucking eat is what happened, Morty.” As soon as he said it, he knew it was the wrong thing to say. Even sober, he wasn’t ready to have this conversation. The kid looked down, starting at his feet, and he grabs a fistful of his sweater and starts messing with it. Rick gets up and grabs some bottled waters from the specimen fridge, handing one to Morty.

“I eat.” Morty whispers softly, still not meeting his eyes. Rick sighs, rubbing the back of his head with one hand.

“Sure, okay. You eat, and I’m the queen of Alderan, Morty.”

“I eat.” He repeats, a little louder this time, still looking down and fiddling with the hem of his sweater.

“A mouthful or two of vegetables every few days doesn’t count as eating, Morty.” He says pinching the bridge of his nose. He pulls his chair closer, so that there eye-to-eye. He watches as a tear runs down the young boy’s face. “I’m not mad at you, or anything. I just- I wish you would've tried to talk with me about it.”   


“S-so you c-could just tell me th-hat I’m being a p-pussy and I need t-to just get over it? N-no thanks.”

“Look, Morty. I’m an asshole, okay?” He says putting a hand on his shoulder. “I should've said something. I knew what was going on, and I thought you could get through it on your own. But I was wrong.” He laughs a little, causing Morty look up at him. “I know- I know, it’s a rare occurrence. I should've been there for you, and I’m sorry. God Morty, you almost got raped! I mean- You got him off first, right? He didn’t go through with it?”

“Y-yeah, I got him o-off me. I d-didn’t even know you k-knew.”

“Course I do, not much gets past your old grandpa. I shot the sack of shit on our way out.”

“T-t-thank you” He sobbed out, letting his tears flow freely now. “Is- Is it sick that I’m happy t-that he’s gone?”

“No! No, of course not!”

“But- But what if he was a-a good man, you k-know, apart from being a r-rapist?”

“He could've been a saint, Morty, It doesn’t fucking matter.” Rick sighed, rubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “He was a RAPIST, and that’s the worst kind of evil that there is. If you want to feel any kind of sadness over it or whatever, don't feel it because he died, feel it because he didn’t die a horrible painful death.” Morty nodded a bit, sobs still racking his tiny body. 

As morty’s sobbing finally starts to stop he rolls his chair over to the other table quickly, grabbing some of the nuts. “I got you some Blershian walnuts, if you want some?”

“I-I’m not-“

“Don’t lie to me Morty. Don’t you dare lie to me and tell me your not hungry.” He bites out, point a long finger at the boy’s face. The words come out far harsher than he intended. “Aww, fuck. I just- I know your hungry, your stomachs been growling for hours.” He whispered softly. “You don’t even h-have to eat all of them, just a few. If you want something different, t-thats fine, just eat something.”

“D-do we h-have strawberries? A-and lettuce? I kinda w-want a w-walnut salad.”

“Yeah, I think so. You stay here, i’ll go up and get it together. What kind of dressing?” He said quickly, happy that the kid wanted even more food than he'd offered.

“I d-don’t want any. Can you make me some tea too? I’m cold.” He replied snuggling the large blanket around himself once more. Rick’s smile faded. 

“You don’t want any dressing, or you think you shouldn’t have any?”

“D-does it really matter? Please, I-i just want my tea.” Morty whispered, snuggling himself even further under the blanket. Rick sighs, making his way over to the hatch. 

“Fine, whatever. But were not done talking about this.” Rick called out over his shoulder as he went up. 

Ignoring the broken mug on the floor, he quickly threw everything into two bowls and stuck Morty’s stupid tea in the microwave. He grabbed two different dressings just in case, and made his way back down to the lair. 

“H-here’s your dumb ass tea. It smells fucking terrible.” He said, handing Morty a bowl and his tea. “I don’t know how you drink that shit.” 

“It’s p-pretty good, once you g-get past the smell.” he said taking a small sip. “D-do you w-want to try some?” Morty smiles, moving the blanket and holding the mug out. 

“No.” Rick sighs, stabbing at his salad. “Now stop staling and eat, Morty.”

“C-can you stop staring at m-me then? It’s freaking me o-out, man.” Morty whispers with his fork halfway to his mouth.  

“Well get used to it.” He pauses, swallowing. “Because you and I are going to be eating every meal together from now on.” Morty paled, a look of pure panic on his face.

“What? That’s not-“

“It sure as shit is fair, Morty.” He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “You could've died t-there on the floor, you know.”

“Aww geez Rick, I-i was just trying t-to make oatmeal. I k-knew I needed s-something soon, but I g-guess it was a little t-too late.”

“Oatmeal in a mug?”

“Y-yeah. It’s just the r-right size for half a p-pack.” Morty sighs, taking a bite and chewing slowly. “This is pretty good.”

“It’s dry as hell, Morty.” He says grabbing a bottle of dressing and squeeing it out over his. “Are you sure you don’t want any?” He looks into Morty’s eyes, holding out the bottle. Morty just snorts. “I’ll take that as a no then.” Rick sighs, running a hand over his face. “Look. I know you don’t want to do this, but it’s what’s best for you.”

“Fine, w-whatever Rick.” 

“I’ll let you pick the food, if you want?”

“Y-yeah, I’d like that.” He says. “Can it just be u-us though? I don’t- I don’t want everyone starting at me.”

“Sure Morty.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One week after chapter three, Morty and Summer have a talk.

She watched as his small, bony hand fished around in his pocket for a bit, finally finding it’s way to his lighter. He slowly lit his cigarette, taking a long drag, and then let the white smoke swirl around his face. He was barely visible in the low lighting of the back-porch. He flinched and quickly hid his cigarette as she slid open the door and sat beside him.

“S-summer?” He said looking at her with those big, sappy eyes.

“Since when do you smoke?” 

“I-i ju-“ He stammered out, fear written all over his face.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell mom, I’m not that shitty Morty.”

“I’ve b-been doing it for a-about two months now. I-i-i St-tole them from R-rick. Don’t t-tell him, please.”

“I won’t. I Just- Are you- Are you okay, Morty? You don’t look so good lately.”

“Gee Summer, thanks. It’s g-great to know that I look like shit.” He says, snuffing out his cigarette. He flicks the butt over into the neighbors yard.

“That’s not what I mean.” She sighs.”I’ve been trying to have this conversation with you for ages. You just- I don’t know how to say it okay?” She pauses, looking away as he lights another. “I don’t even know what ‘it’ is. Should I tell you you're starting to look skeletal? Or should I not tell you that? I’ll say whatever it is you need to hear Morty.” She pauses, watching his face scrunch up a bit like he’s confused. “I know what your doing, and it’s not okay.”

“I’m f-fine, Summer. I don’t know what your talking about.” 

“You don’t eat right. Don’t…” Summer swallows loudly. “You never empty your plate and you basically starve yourself. You lie to people, to me, to Rick, to get out of sharing meals with us. Don’t be an ass and pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about. Don’t lie to my face. Please? I couldn’t take that. ” Tears start welling up in her eyes. “What made you even want to do this? I just- I don’t understand. Do you think your fat, or something? Because your not.” He snorts a little. “You've never been fat, Morty.” She says taking his face into her hands and looking into his eyes.

“I-it’s not like that. N-not anymore.” He whispers, braking away.

“Anymore? I don’t- what the fuck is it like, Morty. I just can’t wrap my head around it.”

“I d-don’t want to t-talk about it, it’s none o-of your business, Rick and I are working on it. I j-just came out to have a n-nice smoke, and now you've r-ruined it.”

“You could die. That makes it my business. I know you and Rick are trying to fix it, but it’s just not working, Morty.” She sniffles. “And I don’t give a flying fuck about your smoke. I need to know whats going on.”

“Fine! W-whatever! What, d-do you want to know that I a-almost got r-raped, Summer. By a f-fucking giant jellyb-bean! I j-just kept thinking, m-maybe if I wasn’t so pudgy he wouldn't have p-picked me. M-maybe if I was in bette-er shaped I could've g-gotten him off eas-sye-er. Or-r maybe if-f I wasn’t so fucking s-stupid, I wo-ouldv’e noticed b-before it was t-too l-late to run. And n-now I’m s-so fucking s-scared Summer. I j-just- I’m s-scared that it m-might hap-pen again. An-nd, I’m Scared o-of myself, I’m f-fucking terrified that- that I can’t just s-stop whenever I want to a-anymore. I just can’t t-take it a-anymore! Is that what yo-ou wanted to fucking hea-ar?” He was sobbing and shaking now. “I just- I’m so afraid. I know h-he’s gone, R-rick told me that he s-shot him, but it doesn’t h-help. I’m a-afraid of someone I k-know is d-ead. How fucking p-pathetic is that?” 

“Shh… It’s okay, It’s gonna be okay” She whispered gathering him into her arms, pulling him closer and rubbing his back.

“You don’t- you don’t know that. You c-can’t know that.” He whispered curling into a ball.

“We’ll keep you safe. As long as Rick and I are around, you're going to be okay. You’r not stupid Morty, Dad’s the only one who thinks so, and he’s a fucking idiot. I’ll beat the shit out of anyone who even thinks about trying to do that to you, and I’m sure Rick would do the same.”

“B-but y-you and Rick c-call me stupid a-all the time.”

“Your not stupid, Rick and I are just fucking with you!”

“You m-mean it?”

“Of course I do, we love you Morty.”

“I-i love y-you too, S-summer.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry this took so long. I'm super busy with work. I have ch.5 started, and it should be up by the end of this week. Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so sorry. I just saw the scene in Meseeks and destroy, and this idea just came into my head. And then I read TwistingMoonBeam's story over on ff.net, and I just had to write this. I really loved their work, but I just need even more angst, and a bit of a different ending.


End file.
